It’s Time For A Call-Up And A Demotion

Boy is that right wing atrocious. Actually, atrocious is putting it nicely. Let’s go with horrendous pile of puke and bile. I rhyme when I’m disgusted. But what are we gonna do? Well Richardson should be in there on the third line. We call that a no-brainer. Lewis? While I think his perpetual benching is a bit overblown (is Fraser that frigging good? Rhetorical) plugging Lewis back in also isn’t going to solve much of anything.

With Mike Richards out, now is the perfect time to try and catch lightning in a bottle from Manchester. Even considering that no one on the Monarchs is lighting up the scoresheet, it is hard to predict who will take an NHL opportunity and run with it. Bobby will say Brandon Kozun, who has an underwhelming 10 points (6 goals) in 23 games. Let me throw a different name at you.

Jordan Nolan.

Nolan is a RW who is tied for the team scoring lead with 14 points with Marc Andre Cliche, in 23 and 25 games, respectively. I know, 14 points is pathetic as the scoring lead. As a side note here, Loktionov also has 14 AHL points this season in 17 games. Like I said, Manchester is struggling. They did lose their 2 best players in Voynov and Loktionov. Losing Nolan would probably hit them hard.

Fuck ‘em. Sorry Jungle Dave.

Nolan is a big boy, 6’3, 225 lbs. Both years I’ve watched him in various camps he has stood out in a good way. He loves to use his size, makes his living in the front of the net and his hands are made of a substance softer than stone. Give Nolan a game or two on the second line. Bench Hunter’s unproductive ass, put Richardson on the third line in place of Moreau and let’s see what happens. It can’t be worse than Hunter, Moreau, Westgarth.

Let me repeat that.

Hunter
Moreau
Westgarth

That’s our NHL lineup on the RW after Williams.

Hunter
Moreau
Westgarth

If the last thing you ate is still in your stomach, you aren’t paying attention.

Hunter. Moreau. Westgarth.

I can’t decide whether it’s a positive or negative that Westgarth is the only one I want to stay in the lineup. Let’s call it two parts Westgarth having improved and three parts Hunter and Moreau adding nothing to the team. Why are there 5 parts? I don’t know, stop asking silly questions.

Back to Nolan. I don’t believe one call-up can turn our offense around. I don’t know if Nolan is even the best man for the job. I believe that he has a man’s body and can add a different look to our lineup. Maybe he won’t work out. What I want to see while Richards is out is a rotation of guys from Manchester. If Nolan is a big bowl of ‘meh’ after a couple of games, replace him with Kozun, then try Vey, or Legein or Mignardi. Let’s just see something fresh, something that has the chance to boost our team, because what I do know is exactly what we get from Hunter and Moreau: not enough.

UPDATE: Apparently I was wrong in thinking we had roster space for a call-up. Someone has to go down. I nominate Hunter first, Fraser second, Moreau third. I know you are thinking, Moreau third? Yes. Out of those three I think Moreau is the most useful, which isn’t saying much. Moreau is someone we actually went after and signed. You can’t blame Moreau for being overplayed. That is the coaches fault for dressing him every game. It’s the coaches fault for not punishing his various offenses. Hunter is a player in whom the Kings have invested precisely nothing. This experiment can’t just go on and on and on. What we would be doing if Hunter played in training camp the way he is playing now? Well, he wouldn’t have earned the contract in the first place and we would likely be plugging in rookies. So there you have it. I’m officially going to say, waive Trent Hunter.

Well, that, or get a coach who utilizes his lineup properly and gets the most production possible out of his players, but let’s not get crazy here… that’s for tomorrow’s post.

26 replies

When Penner came off we would have had to send down someone, but with Richards out and Parse having surgery, we have an extra spot, right? I’m bad at tracking this stuff but I remember reading Hammond say that Parse hadn’t been put on IR yet.

Honestly, who is even going to give Hunter a second look as they see his name on the waiver wire?

So we lose him, so what? He’s replaceable and ain’t cutting it. If we are afraid to lose our scrubs that we got for free and cheap, we’re never going to make any moves, ever. Players go on the wire all the time and don’t get claimed, players who have more talent and potential than Hunter.

Surly, I have something to say. I’ve been a very big DL supporter. But this year I am starting to pose questions….. and they would link in perfectly with your post.
I know his first draft w the Kings was the 06 draft (Bernier). We’ve had six first round picks. Two the year of Doughty and none last year.

At a point last year I started posing the question….. is he putting so much emphasis on building from the back out, that it’s to the exclusion of the forwards.
After three or four years one still has to be patient. We’re not there anymore and when I look at the other teams, a majority of them find Someone up front who produces. Yes, I Do realize that he flipped Simmonds and Schenn for Richards. That counts for something, but neither Simmer nor Schenn as of this year are producing huge numbers either.

I feel ya. You would hope and think that we would have a homegrown forward from DL’s tenure doing something on the team.

Loktionov and Clifford are DL picks, Clifford is doing a little less than what Clifford does and Loki ain’t going to light anything on fire with Penner and Moreau as his fucking wingers.

Hunter, Moreau, Fraser…. hey I want some veteran stability in the bottom six, but Hunter was just a damn camp invite who played well in camp, and hasn’t played all that well since. He is not doing what he was supposed to, scoring, and he doesn’t carry the same connotations as Penner who we invested something in. Hunter isn’t working out, it’s Lombardi’s 20-ish game mark for evaluations, time to go a different direction. Let’s see what one of the kids he drafted in Manchester can do. Like I said, you just can’t know who is going to take an NHL opportunity and run with fast as hell. It happens all the time. Time to find out what we have and where some guys are in Manchester.

Surly…. you said ‘You would hope and think that we would have a homegrown forward from DL’s tenure doing something on the team.’. Well thats what I would have said, and have been thinking for a year and a half now.
Doesn’t help that he shipped out Moulson. They were talking about him today on the radio (nhl home ice I think it was – or maybe the Rangers game) and saying how he’s virtually scored at every single level.

THAT is what makes me frustrated wrt the Kings and some of DL’s responsibility in this deal. Fine, if he doesn’t have the ‘intangibles’ you’re looking for, then get rid of him, but you’d better be able to bring someone else in his place to do the business.

Running w what you said (and I think), I honestly can’t remember the last home grown player (other than Dustin Brown) to score 20 goals. And DB comes from a deep draft and Dave Taylor can take credit or not for that choice. Five years and not one DL selected player other than Simmer to break the 15 goal mark? How exactly do you win a Stanley Cup like that pre tell?

OK so back to Gags-Kopi-JW on the #1. once again TMu’s line juggling results in nothing, but a return to what was. literally. same linemates, same team that can’t score over 2 goals a game.

Richie not being in the line-up is getting old. dude must have kicked Murray’s dog, or door dinged his car. DL needs to step in at some point and end this nonsense, otherwise he’s going to be gone along with Murray after this season. Richie has struggles this season, but so has Murray’s golden boy Moreau and his new toy Hunter. personally i don’t recall Richie missing open nets.

Lokti with Penner and Moreau. lol…..yeah right. at minimum Richardson should be on his RW, so you have some comparable skill set and style on the line. Penner it doesn’t matter because Mr Hot Pocket himself will just aimlessly float around.

would like to see Clifford either sat, or sent to MAN at this point. i love the kid but he is struggling and needs a reset. with a possible move of him to MAN i am game for DL to try Nolan, move Westie over to LW.

Clifford doesn’t need to be sent down, he just needs to be given the go ahead to fight when he feels like it. I’m thoroughly convinced that Clifford’s problem is that he’s been leashed, told to just focus on checking and such. The irony rig that when Clifford is playing the role of hunter he plays his most effective hockey in the other aspect of the game.

Do you think Moreau brings more to the table than Clifford or are you just throwing out what you see as a more realistic option, since Dean hates losing players not named Moulson for nothing? Also you haven’t specifically mentioned what you think of calling up Nolan. I assume you Are for it?

Ted Nolan Just like Murray made it to the Stanley Cup Finals
But acually won a few games and made a great series out of it.
What it could have been if had it not been the crease rule fiasco, and Buffalo got the series to game 7!!!

OUR Coach seems to have ZERO confidence in our young players that don’t have that checking first mentallity, and he is the biggest NEW mold, new line, new outlook coach with completely backwards results and a huge track record to prove it!!!
Boyle….TM plays him as a 4th line checking grinder center!!
Result = Zero goals, ( 4 goals in 5 games the season before on call up with Crawfish ) Boyle looked out of place and frustrated with a downward confidence level…..GONE

Moller….TM moves him around to fill in for injured spaces, but LABELS him TOO Small and not NHL ready.
Result = The Swedish kid that came to North America to play juniors for better competition and self improvement, is in and out of the line up, up until the World Junior Championship, where he is the CAPTAIN of team Sweden, breaks his collar bone and continues to play and lead his team into the Championship game, showing the world his character. 15 points in 40 games, how many points have Richie, Lewis, Clifford, Hunter or Moreau had in any of their last 3 seasons, and that was Oscars rookie year! Next year he does not make the Kings out of the camp, again too small, and like Boyle his confidence is clearly shaken and seems out of place in Coach Murray’s system when called up, only 7 points in 34 games…but Oscar is not done.
He comes to camp in great shape, but in Coach Murray’s eye’s he’s still not big enough and it’s Lewis’s turn, and is falling into Lokti’s shadow. 50 points in 59 games in Manch, a young leader in our ranks, but!!! when called up briefly manages only 4 points in 13 games being miss used by TM again and again.
How many points do Penner, Hunter, Clifford, Richardson, Lokti and Lewis have this season?? How many Did Poni have all last season?? Maybe 4 points in 13 games was pretty good in the system we have.
Time to play in Sweden!!!!! And to show what kind of leader Oscar is….Holloway and Elkins follow, proving that being a successful AHL player in our ranks, ready for the next level.
Is a dead end when you have to move on and play in the Terry Murray system and be labelled. How many NHL teams have young smallish forwards on their rosters, that played in the AHL against Our top Manchester guys, and they are succeeding.